


Not Your Average Music Lesson

by buzzbuzz34



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 20:39:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Because I’m salty that I can’t romance Avela with a fem Ryder and that her romance is about 2 seconds long, I decided to write out a scene between her and my Evangeline Ryder, where they're sharing music from their respective culture.





	Not Your Average Music Lesson

Ryder couldn’t help but smile as she’d ventured through Aya to the museum, carrying with her the ancient revaan, the instrument tuned to the angara’s natural electricity.  The way Avela’s face lit up as she rambled on about this integral piece of their culture was enough to make anyone interested in history.  

“Can you play it?”  

“I… oh!  Stars, you’re serious, aren’t you?”  Avela laughed.  “My siblings and I did learn how to play the revaan when we were children, but it was different than this and it has been so long…”  She looked forlornly at the ancient instrument in her hands.

“C’mon, give it a try.”

Avela blinked, then smiled and nodded.  Her fingers began to strum the strings and both performer and instrument started to glow with a dim light as they produced a low and mellow music.  Ryder was completely drawn into the moment and the ebb and flow of the tune.

After a short time, Avela stopped, and the light around her dimmed.  “Like I said, it has been quite some time…”

“That was beautiful,” Ryder admitted, holding her hand over her mouth to hide her smile.  She couldn’t stop it.  

“Oh, you are too kind.”

“And you’re too talented.”

Both women giggled.  

“What about music from the Milky Way?”  Avela questioned as she set the revaan aside to be further studied at another time.  “Surely you’ve heard some of our music as you’ve walked through the marketplace, but I haven’t heard any music from your own galaxy.”

“We have a lot of different styles and genres,” Ryder explained.  “But it’s not so different from what I’ve heard here, all things considered.”

“Were you able to bring any music with you?  On your journey through dark space?”  Hope and curiosity were evident in her expression.  Though they’d had many conversations comparing and contrasting and explaining their own cultures, neither had grown tired of the nuances.

Ryder began to punch some commands on her omni tool.  “Yeah, I brought some.  It didn’t take up that much data for a couple songs.  I heard someone stashed some guitars somewhere too, but I don’t know about that…”

She quickly pushed past her workout playlist, since it included a couple more swear words than Angaran first contact with music merited, even if the words didn’t translate…

After finding a suitable playlist, Ryder hit shuffle and let the music play.  

Avela smiled as she listened to the beat, clearly intent on understanding the melody and the lyrics to compare them to the songs of her own culture.  

Instead of standing in place, Ryder started to dance.  She knew her dance skills weren’t the best, but it was about fun, right?  Avela chuckled as she saw Ryder move in time to the music.

“C’mon,” Ryder said and extended her hand toward Avela.  “Angara must dance, right?”

“Some Angara do, certainly, but not so much me…”

“Well, you do now.” She tugged on Avela’s hand and pulled her into the center of the room where she hesitantly joined Ryder in dancing to the song from another galaxy.  “See?  Not so bad!”

“Oh, stars,” Avela laughed, but she didn’t stop dancing.  

As the song ended, the pair danced together to a couple more upbeat songs, before the tempo slowed down into a slower song, meant for two.

“What a beautiful melody,” Avela stated as she stopped dancing and listened to the opening instrumental.  

“This is one of my favorite songs,” Ryder admitted.  She reached over and took Avela’s hand to pull her in close again.  This time, Avela didn’t protest.

Ryder gently placed her hands on Avela’s waist.  If Avela wanted out, they could just chalk it up to a cross-cultural misunderstanding, right?

Instead, Avela took the cue and wrapped her arms around of Ryder as well so that they could sway together. Avela rested her forehead against Ryder’s.

“Well, that settles it,” Ryder said.

“Settles what?”

“This is definitely my favorite song.”

Avela giggled and Ryder blushed.  

After a moment, Avela asked, “What is courtship for humans like?”

“Well, it’s… it’s probably something like this…”

“I see.”

“Is that bad?  I didn’t mean to cross any lines or anything.”

“No.  I think it’s good.  Very good.”

“Me too.”

“Do humans kiss?  I mean, press their lips to someone they care about?  Family or friends or… romantically…”  She explained in case the translator didn’t pick up the word, then turned her face away from Ryder in embarrassment.

Ryder put a hand on Avela’s cheek and gently brought her back center.

“We do.”

Avela smiled at Ryder as each leaned in closer, their lips meeting with trepidation.  This was such unknown territory, but, as they figured out how they fit together, each kiss felt all the more familiar, like home.

As they broke apart, they rested their foreheads together once more, still in each other’s arms though the song had long since faded away into another.  

“Stars,” Avela laughed, “when you started teaching me about human culture, I didn’t realize I’d be getting such a personal treatment.”

“Just for you.”

They kissed once more. Surrounded by history, their only focus was on the present; on each other, together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're curious, the song I was listening to while thinking of their slower dance was "Sweetest Heart" by SayWeCanFly.  
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to hit me up on tumblr at orisapeacekeeper or check out any of my other fics here on AO3! There will definitely be more of these two coming in the future :)


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